They came from Cicero-North Syracuse and they came from Manlius Pebble Hill. They came from Liverpool, West Genesee, Tully, Onondaga, and South Lewis. They came from all over central New York intent on beating Cazenovia Central School in the Central new York Academic Decathlon Competition.

And when it was all said and done and the final scores had been tabulated, Cazenovia had emerged the winner ... again ...

Winning Academic Decathlon Team Members of the Cazenovia Academic Decathlon team take a break from their studies for a photo following their recent first place finish at the Section III competition held at Westhill High School. They are busy now preparing for the state championships which will be held at LeMoyne College

Under the direction of Sue McKillop and Kim Schug, the local contingent continued to shine in the annual competition bringing the first place trophy, along with several individual medals back to Cazenovia.

"I'm not sure why we've had such success," Mrs. McKillop said. "The students begin preparing in September and continue to work right up to the competition. Considering that we are competing against such large schools it is a credit to our school that we do so well. "

Mrs. McKillop said another difference between Cazenovia and the larger schools is that the Cazenovia team is comprised of students in grades 9-12 while the larger schools generally are made of students who are at least juniors.

Mrs. Mckillop extended her appreciation to several subject area teachers who have offered their expertise in preparing the squad for competition. Those teachers included George Schmit and Sarah Flemming.

Team compete with a team of nine students who represent different academic achievement levels. The honors division is reserved for students with A averages while the scholastic division is comprised of students with B averages. Students whose average falls in the C category compete at the varsity level.

The first element of the competition consists of half hour written tests covering the areas of math, science, music, art, economics, language, and literature.

After a lunch break the "Super Quiz - Oral Relay" portion of the competition begins. Here, students are asked to write down the correct answer to questions from each topic area within seven seconds. Cicero-North Syracuse, which won the overall state title last year, and Liverpool. Cicero-North Syracuse will join Cazenovia at the state competition which will be held at LeMoyne College later this winter. The winner of the state competition then advances to a national competition.

Following are the individual winners from Cazenovia: Eric Dudley bronze medals in language/literature and biology; Anna Call, bronze medal in art; kevin McCarthy, bronze medals in language/literature, art, and economics; Eric Tegtmeyer, gold medals in language/literature and music; Pat Goldacker, second place in the scholastic division with a gold medal in music, silver medals in language/literature, and economics, bronze medals in art, math, and science; Lisa Gardnier won first place in the scholastic division with gold medals in art, language/literature, math, and music.

In conjunction with the district's participation in the Project Lead the Way program, a new committee, called the Partnership Team has been established and met for the first time earlier this month.

Project Lead the Way is a national program forming partnerships among public schools, higher education, and the private sector to increase the quantity and the quality of engineers and engineering technologists graduating from public schools. Casanova has been involved in the program for two years and is affiliated with the Rochester Institute of Technology which serves as an "outpost" for the program.

Currently two classes, DDP and Digital Electronics are offered through Project Lead the Way. Roughly 55 students are enrolled in DDP. Of the roughly 60 students who completed DDP last year 20 have continued in the program and are taking Digital Electronics this year. Upon completion of either course, students may take an exam. If they score a 75 or better they may pay $200 and receive four hours of undergraduate credit from RIT.

Chris Hurd, a technology teacher at Casanova High School who chairs the recently established committee, said in addition to meeting one of the expectations for participation in Project Lead the Way, the committee has three goals. One of those goals is related to letting the community know what is going on with the technology program and some of the activities that are being pursued. A second goal facing the committee is to gather information from people in the field about the direction engineering is taking in the future. "The people in the field know what entry level skills students should have in order to be successful in the field," Mr. Hurd said. "it's important for us to know that we are actually teaching the types of things that need to be taught."

The third goal is the establishment of a team of engineers active in the field who could serve as a resource for students working on projects. "We invited nineteen different people to the meeting and only two were unable to attend due to other commitments," Mr. Hurd said. "The committee represents parents, business leaders, engineers from area companies, the Chamber of Commerce, faculty members, and SUNY Morrisville. Of the 17 people who attended all 17 were willing to continue on the committee. This was just an informational meeting but it went very well and we are off and running."

Project Lead the Way was developed in the 1980's and is partially funded by Charitable Venture Foundation, a private foundation located in Clifton Park. The program has developed a four year sequence of courses which, when combined with college prep courses in high school, introduces students to the scope, rigor, and discipline of engineering and engineering technology prior to entering college.

Mr. Hurd said in the future the technology department hopes to join the technology sequence with the engineering sequence through some type of collaborative project. "It would be really exciting to have the students from each sequence take the other classes."

Mr. Hurd said this year all eighth grade students will be taking a technology assessment. "We are trying to tie the seventh and eighth grade curriculums together," Mr. Hurd said. "Technology curriculums have always been pretty loose in the past. Now, all eighth graders get the exact same course no matter who they have. That allowed us to upgrade the eighth grade activities and we're now using the old eighth grade activities for seventh grade."

Fueled by the high demand for Computer Aided Design (CAD) technicians in the job market Mr. Hurd said there has been a resurgence in both CAD I and CAD 2 classes at the school. CAD 1 is a technical drawing based course while CAD 2 is more architectural in nature.

Students Enjoy Car Project Pictured are students in one of Chris Hurd's technology classes busy building model cars as one of their activity projects.

 

Sports News

Sportsmanship Initiatives Paying Off

There is a saying that one person doing something about bringing sportsmanship back to sports is far better than a thousand talking about it.

At Cazenovia High School Athletic Director Greg Carroll and the entire coaching staff are doing their best to help Cazenovia establish itself as a leader in the area of good sportsmanship.

One of the initiatives established this year is the awarding of Outstanding Sportsmanship Awards to deserving student athletes. Coaches nominate as many students to receive the award as they feel are deserving. Recipients are then announced over the school's public address system and receive a certificate and a "Cazenovia Athletic Department" t-shirt with the New York State Public High School Athletic Association's "Be A Sport" logo on the back. In addition, their pictures are displayed in the trophy case in the high School Gym foyer for all to see.

Recipients for the first half of the winter sports season were the following; Kelsey Moore (junior varsity volleyball), Dan Fitch (varsity ice hockey), Jeremy Cook (varsity basketball), Kurt Fraser (junior varsity basketball), Danielle Merta (indoor track).

Mr. Carroll said he has been pleased this year with the results of the school's effort's to set a high standard for acceptable behavior. "I want to publicly thank everyone who has helped us get to where we are right now," he said. "You can always strive to be better but compared to where we were a few years ago we've come a long way. We are to the point now that when parents from other communities come to Cazenovia and act inappropriately our parents look at them as if to say 'What's their problem.'"

Another aspect that has helped facilitate an improved atmosphere at Cazenovia sporting events this year was the addition of several experienced coaches and a senior class willing to step forward as student leaders. "This is by far the most experienced coaching staff I've had the pleasure of working with in the 12 years I've been at Cazenovia," Mr. Carroll said. "We have some people who have more than 20 years of coaching experience working with our junior high teams. That is where you usually have people who are just breaking into coaching. We were fortunate to hire several coaches who are committed to using athletics as a vehicle to develop character as well as sport skills."

Mr. Carroll said in years past he has been reluctant to apply for the New york State Public High School Athletic Association's (NYSPHSAA) Good Sports Award, feeling as though there were other initiatives that should be in place to complete the district's sportsmanship plan. "I think we are very close right now and I am hoping we can finish the year in a positive fashion so I can feel good about submitting an application," he said. "I think schools have to make a conscious effort to keep good sportsmanship at the forefront of their athletic program. We really have no control over how good the teams we play are going to be and how many games we might be able to win. We do, however, have control over our actions and how we behave on the field as athletes and coaches as well as parents and spectators."

Casey Taylor, a member of the Cazenovia varsity volleyball team, wishes the coach of the Chittenango team good luck prior to the start of their first round sectional match earlier this month. The Lakers won the contest in an exciting five game match.

Diane Budnar has earned a spot on the World Winter Special Olympics Team. She will be representing Cazenovia and the Area 28 Special Olympics team in the World Winter Games which are being held in Anchorage, Alaska from March 4-11. She will be competing in the alpine skiing event with approximately 290 other athletes from 80 different countries.

The 2001 Special Olympics World Winter Games will showcase international level competition in seven official winter sports at venues across Anchorage, Eagle River, and Girdwood, Alaska. More than 2,750 athletes and coaches are expected for competition. More than 7,000 family members, coaches, volunteers, and supporters will be in attendance. These games are expected to be the largest international sporting event ever in Alaska.

Diane left on Wednesday, February 28 to meet with other area athletes following a send-off party and press conference. In addition, both Diane and Ryan Goldacker competed at the New York State Winter Special Olympics held at Toggenburg on February 25 and 26.

The Central New York Chapter of the National Football Foundation honored 39 high school scholar athletes Sunday, February 4 at its inaugural Scholar Athlete Awards Dinner at Drumlins Country Club.

Cazenovia Central School was represented by senior Corey Flynn. Corey is a three sport athlete at Cazenovia where he is a captain of the varsity hockey team and will be a member of the first ever varsity lacrosse team at Cazenovia this spring. Corey has been accepted to Tufts University.

The National Football foundation is affiliated with the College Football Hall of Fame and was formed in 1947 by General Douglas MacArthur, the legendary Army football coach Col. Red Blaik, and sportswriter Grantland Rice. There are more than 10,000 members representing more than 100 chapters nationwide.